Project Grant R21NS150730

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke awarded the University of Pennsylvania $203,125 on September 7, 2026, under the Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders program (CFDA 93.853).

The award funds development of a combined metabolic and microstructural imaging approach to identify neurodegeneration along the corticospinal tract in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients. The project proposes to fuse whole-brain spectroscopic imaging data with neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging and diffusion tensor imaging–derived maps along the reconstructed corticospinal tract path to enable simultaneous, voxel-by-voxel analysis of metabolite alterations and microstructural integrity. A cohort of 40 ALS patients with mild to moderate disease severity and upper motor neuron symptoms, along with 20 age- and sex-matched healthy controls, will undergo anatomical imaging, spectroscopic imaging, and three-shell diffusion MRI on a 3T MRI system. White matter maps will be co-registered and probabilistic tracking algorithms will reconstruct bilateral intracranial corticospinal tracts, which will then be divided into five anatomical regions for analysis. The research will quantitatively assess spatial concordance of imaging-derived parametric maps along the corticospinal tract path.

Performance occurs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with an ultimate completion date of July 31, 2028. The assistance type is a Project Grant, characterized as R21 funding to support exploratory research and novel methodologies in neurological disorders.